2017 01/30 (happy b-day Keith) "The city life is a good life." --Sister Larsen

▪Hello▪ 

APPARENTLY it's Monday AGAIN. It always comes so fast! 

We did get a schedule! Instead of planning at night we plan for 30 minutes in the morning before personal study. We get 30 extra minutes to get ready in the morning. We plan comp study in when we have time during the day and preparation day starts at 8:00am instead of 10:00am. We're still supposed to be home at 9:00pm or 9:30pm if we're in a lesson and when we get home we have 1 hour and 30 minutes to get ready for bed. It's going to take awhile to get the hang of it, but it's nice. We get to use our agency to decide how we use our time-- Heavenly Father is putting His trust in His missionaries to use their time wisely!😀🙃

Anywayyyyyyy. This week was so good!! The highlight of the week is that MARVIN FELT THE SPIRIT OHHHH YEAHHHHH🤓 We've been hitting our heads again the wall trying to help Marvin have a powerful spiritual experience and Heavenly Father provided the way!! (As always.) We invited Brother Morgan, our ward mission leader, to come to Marvin's lesson with us and we watched the Restoration movie. I LOVE THAT MOVIE and I've seen people gain a greater appreciation for the Prophet Joseph Smith through watching it. We also had a less-active with us and she was basically crying the whole time. IT WAS WONDERFUL. We asked Marvin what his thoughts were after and he said "I love that guy. Joseph Smith is a cool guy and I like him." (Yeah, same.) He also said that it was eye opening and that he felt something in his heart that he really liked. (THE SPIRIT.) It was so cool to see Marvin's heart soften and be open to the spirit. I get to see the coolest miracles here in Manhattan ❤

I've been studying prayer this week and how important it is. There's one experience that always comes to my head whenever I think of prayer. I remember one time in my life when I was having a hard time (okay MULTIPLE times in my life) and dad would come say nightly prayers with me. It was for probably a month straight that when I was ready to say my prayers before bed, dad would come and kneel with me-- and that changed my life. One night in particular was especially hard and I remember just kneeling there and crying. Dad put his arm around me and told me to imagine Jesus Christ sitting next to me. I've thought of that night every time I kneel to pray and how dad taught me that when I pray, my Savior is kneeling with me and my Father in Heaven really is listening. I can pour out my heart to Him and He understands. There's a quote that I read the other day that went something like "Every moment of precious prayer is holy time spent with our Father." I know that prayer is a commandment for a reason. He wants to hear from each of His children! Prayer really is special time spent with the one who loves us most-- so take advantage of it morning and night and all the hours in between! 🤗 

IS BRIANNE COMING HOME THIS WEEK??? OR NEXT WEEK??? I am dying because I want to accidentally run into her and the Gurney family at the temple sometime 😂 it's going to happen one day. I'm serious. We can go to Shake Shack because UT doesn't have that😭😂

Anyway, we're off to Chelsea Market! BYE! ❤❤❤

I love you so much and I hope you have a wonderful week!! ❤

Love always,

Sister Bain 🍍

Ps. I got to go on splits with Sister Larsen and it was sooooooooooo much fun!! I LOVE her. We went out and got a split treat at Magnolia Bakery. YUM ❤

PPs. Sister Soto wanted me to tell you that she threw up in the middle of the street all over a super nice BMW on Friday 😂😂😂 The NYNYN mission is full of sick missionaries right now...BUMMER. 

ALSO: Since I've been really sick lately, I would appreciate extra prayers for good health!! I have a really bad cold. I'm super congested and there's this constant pressure in the back of my head and my whole body aches. I AM EXHAUSTED. Wayyyyyy more than I usually am. On Friday night I only slept for 2 hours and so on Saturday I slept until noon....(President said it was okay I promise haha😂) but I just need some extra prayers to keep me going😁THANK YOU!! I LOVE YOU!! ❤ 

My goal this transfer is to drink more water!! 

Empire State Building

Radio City Music Hall

Share Treat with Sister Larsen

2017 01/23 "I can relate to Nephi SO well..."

HELLO. IT'S ME.

How was your week??? I'm glad you're putting your new snowblower to good use!!😂 Sister Soto saw/used a snowblower for the first time a couple of days ago! 

I've overcome my fear of heights because of all the tall buildings I'm in 24/7. Yay me! 

--Quote of the week--

"OH MY GOODNESS. I didn't know Asians could be Jeohovahs Witnesses!" 😂

I love New York City. 

This week was good!! I had a good time. AS ALWAYS. 

We met with Marvin a couple of times this week which was sooooooooooo great. He is a cool guy. He came to our Book of Mormon class on Tuesday and we were able to read 1 Nephi with him. (Just one chapter....not the whole thing...)

--BEST quote of the week--

"Oh yeah, I can relate to Nephi SO well. I am also very large in stature."  -Marvin 

HUGE MIRACLE OF THE WEEK:

We had just finished our lesson with Marvin and we had a missed call from the elders. We called them back and they had a referral for us!!!!!!!!!!!!! So we went to meet her and she is WONDERFUL. Her name is Millie. The elders are meeting with her friend Joshua (Sister Soto and I found him and he's getting baptized this weekend!!!!) AND so the elders invited Millie to sit in on their lesson. Long story short-- MILLIE IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON FEBRUARY 18TH, 2017!!!!!❤❤❤❤She has such a good heart and I'm grateful for her willingness to learn. She came to a baptism with us on Saturday which she said she really enjoyed and she came to church with us today!! We love her.

I'm still trying to get the hang of writing emails and trying to form good, coherent sentences but it's actually really hard and I never have enough time and I'm way too excited so it's hard for me to organize my thoughts, ya know? ROUGH. 

But. I love you sooooooooooo much❤❤❤❤

Love you forever,

Sister Bain 🍍

January 22nd, 2017= 7 months as a missionary JUST SO YOU KNOW🗽

We went to the Museum of Natural History and it was the best ever. I could live there. 

Museum of Natural History

Opps, Did I just take a picture?

Museum of Natural History - Outside

Museum of Natural History - Teddy Roosevelt

Museum of Natural History - Whale

Donuts - NYC size - As big as my face.

2017 01/16 "CRYING MY EYES OUT"

Hello!! It's me again

CONGRATULATIONS TO GRANT FOR BEING A MEMBER OF THE NJHS!! THAT'S SO AWESOME!! I LOVE YOU, BUD!❤❤❤

I hope you all had a good week!! I don't have a ton of time today...the subway is basically the only place with free WiFi. The church is closed on Mondays....boo. The people here call me "Sister Bryan" because they just see the letter B and N at the end on my name tag and just assume it's "Brian" Hahaha it's happened probably 6-7 times😂"Sister Brain" is a popular one too! This week was good!! 

It's been FREEZING (literally) and it's snowed a couple of times in the last week! Dad could come here and use his new snowblower hahaha 

We went to the temple this morning and the session was SO big. There was a newly called missionary going through the temple for the first time and there were 12 NYNYN missionaries in the session with him-- along with tons of family and friends. I was able to see him come into the Celestial room and his mom was so happy. I thought back on March 25th, 2016-- the day I was able to attend the temple for the first time. A flood of emotions came back and I just sat in the Celestial room CRYING MY EYES OUT. I imagine entering the Celestial room for the first time, having all your friends and family welcome you in, is what it's going to be like when we return to our Heavenly Father. 

I love the temple and peace it brings. I know that through temple ordinances and the priesthood we have the incredible opportunity to be with our families for eternity. 

HOW COOL IS THAT???❤❤❤

I love you all and I'm grateful that I get to be with you for forever.

Love you always,

Sister Bain 🍍

Me and my cute little friends so call me "Princess Sister Bain" bless their hearts. 

Princess Sister Bain and subjects

2017 01/09 "Heavenly Father is aware of ME"

Ya know in some movies when it's pouring rain and a girl is standing on the street corner waiting to cross the street and a taxi drives through a puddle and splashes the girl on the street corner? Well, Sister Bain was that girl THREE times this week. Yay. Taxis are the worst sometimes😂

I LOVE SUBWAY MUSIC. People just jam out with their instruments and it's soooooooo cool.

People call me "Sister Bryan" Hahaha 

FUN fact: Sister Larsen  (my trainee) is companions with Sister Evans  (who's is my trainers tainee) and we're all in the same district so we're keeping Sister Sam's  (my trainer) posterity together❤❤❤it's super fun. (Does that sentence even make sense? Hahaha) 

Okay so here's the good stuff that actually matters:

SARAH IS GETTING BAPTIZED ON FEBRUARY 4TH WOOOOOHOOOOOO she's so cool. Sister Soto thinks she's "legit" 😂😂😂 Sarah was a self-referral and ordered a Book of Mormon. She came to a baptism on Saturday when it was snowing ALL. DAY. LONG. and it was 23 degrees and she already had a cold. BUT SHE CAME and said that she was so excited for that to be her OK February 4th. #Blessed 

Marvin is the coolest guy in the whole entire state of New York. He's from North Carolina, plays the trombone for a living, LOVES the Book of Mormon, and came to church for all 3 hours yesterday for the first time and had the time of his life in priesthood meeting hahaha he likes to play his trombone while I play the piano so he wants to create a duet and play it in sacrament meeting😂😂😂 HE IS SOOOOOOOOOOO COOL. 

Jim is a published author and gave me a signed copy of his book😂he was a self-referral and ordered a Book of Mormon. He said that all his life he was constantly meeting LDS people and he was impressed with how service oriented they were and when they provided service they didn't expect any money. He said that the Restoration made sense! (Because it's true.....😎) and he said he's planning on coming to church this Sunday! 

(HE IS ALSO WORKING ON FILMING A MOVIE WITH NATALIE PORTMAN SO HE'S SO COOL.) 

NYC is nuts and I'm exhausted 100% of the time, but I like it here. It's pretty nice. I think I'll stay for a little while❤ (still missing the Connecticut lifestyle though...it's not fine hahaha)

Something I was reminded of this week (and every single day) is that Heavenly Father is aware of ME. He's aware of everything that I worry about, everything that stresses me out, everything that makes me laugh, everything that makes me happy...He knows it all and He knows a whole lot better than I do. This was a long week and there were a lot of things that I wished had gone differently, but I know that Heavenly Father knows I did my very best. He knows that even when I'm exhausted and even when I complain that I still love my calling and I still want to serve Him in New York City. Good things are happening in the big city! 

I love you all! Thank you for sending wedding pictures, selfies in Seagull Book, and our cute Christmas picture together! I looooooooooove seeing all your cute faces and I hope you're all surviving the cold!! It's 23 degrees here so yay. Stay warm!! 

I LOVE YOU!!

Love always,

Sister Bain 🍍

Snow in NYC neighborhood

My buddy - Skater

Inspired

2017 1/2 "I MISS CONNECTICUT, BUT!! I love the city!"

HI FAM

I MISS CONNECTICUT.  Seriously. I didn't realize just how much I loved it until I came to Manhattan. I miss Rob & Liz, I miss the trees (even though they don't have leaves right now haha), I miss my nice heated car, and all the luxuries of upstate living BUT!! I love the city!! I was transferred to the Manhattan 1st Ward. Our ward meets in the chapel below the Manhattan Temple so it's pretty coooooooooooool. The other day about 10 missionaries asked me "Sister Bain, have you seen your aunt and uncle yet? They're looking for you!" word travels fast here in NYC so all the missionaries are on the look out for Aunt Kim and Uncle Kevin

I saw someone riding a Segway on 81st Street and it made me think of dadsend me one for my birthday?

My area is from 86th Street to 42nd Street (Time Square is in my area hahaha but we're not allowed to go there) 

Mi compañera is Sister Soto from COSTA RICA! She's so sweet. Some Elder taught her the word "lit" which is a dumb words kids use now so now she says it alllllllll the time hahaha she's so humble and willing to learn. She says the cutest things because she's learning English so she always has me correct her English--fun fact: Sister Bain doesn't know English either so I learn a lot during language studyENGLISH IS HARD. But there's a super cool story that Sister Soto shared with me our first day. We were eating lunch last Tuesday and she asked if she could see pictures of my family. I showed her a ton of cute pictures of you all and she FREAKED. OUT. when I showed her a picture of Makail. She said that a year ago when she was in the MTC she was having a really hard time. She was learning English and her Taiwanese companion was also learning English. Sister Soto was having a hard time communicating with her companion and was super frustrated. After a lesson in the MTC she saw a teacher sitting in a classroom by herself and Sister Soto asked if she could sit. The teacher said of course and Sister Soto just started crying because she was so frustrated. The teacher gave her advice that Sister Soto still remembers today--"A happy heart is a grateful heart". That teacher in the MTC that Sister Soto said changed her mission was Makail! I'm grateful that my companion loves Makail almost as much as I do.

THANK YOU for sending me some of her wedding pictures!! I'm glad you all had a fun day. Makail looked BEAUTIFUL (as always)!! KC looked really nice too hahaha 

Could you send me that video one more time? It said I had to download it and when I tried, it wouldn't work because it's blocked on my iPad. Boo.  

How in the world is it already 2017???? That is so crazy to me. Time goes by way too fast. 2016 was a good year. I finished my first year of college, went through the temple, STARTED MY MISSION, my sister got married, mom got a new job, I've changed and grown and learned so many new things, I've met new friends and forgiven old ones, and I've come to know Jesus Christ in a very personal way. I'm grateful for 2016 and all the miracles and experiences I've had. God is good. I'm so excited for 2017. One year in New York City. (Maybe Connecticut again?? Hahaha) A lot can happen in 365 days so make sure every day is better than the last. I always love January 1st. It reminds me a lot of what the Atonement can do. It's a brand new year--a fresh start. A time for us to begin again and become better--become better through Jesus Christ and His Atonement. Happy New Year!!

There's probably a million other things I was going to tell you but I'm exhausted and I can't remember anything. 

I hope you have a good day! 

Our train is coming so SEE YA.

(We don't have WiFi at our apartment and the church is closed on Mondays so we have to email in the subway hahaha) YAY CITY LIFE.

I love you!! 

Love you forever,

Sister Bain  

2017 and we're open for business

Central Park at dawn

Central Park with the Skyline